Obama Accused of Plagiarism by Clinton Campaign

Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) was accused of plagiarism by Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign after using a phrase from a speech given by Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) two years ago.

At Obama's Milwaukee Founder’s Day Dinner Saturday, he responded to Senator Clinton’s claims that he is all talk and cannot produce results with just speeches.

Obama responded, by saying to the Wisconsin Democrats:

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter! ‘I have a dream.’ Just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all me are created equal.’ Just words. ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words. Just speeches. It’s true that speeches don’t solve all problems, but what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again then it doesn’t matter how many policies and plans we have and that is why I am running for president of the United States of America and that is why we just won eight elections straight, because the American people want to believe in change again. Don’t tell me words don’t matter.”

Patrick said nearly the same thing in October of 2006 when he was running for office.

Obama said that the accusation was blown out of proportion. He said that he and Patrick are friends that share ideas and speak frequently.

According to Patrick, the two are friends and Patrick has accompanied Obama on the campaign trail before.

“Sen. Obama and I are longtime friends and allies," said Patrick via statement. "We often share ideas about politics, policy and language."

"The argument in question, on the value of words in the public square, is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before," continued Patrick. "Given the recent attacks from Sen. Clinton, I applaud him [for] responding in just the way he did.”